What Is the Mix of Primary, Secondary, and Dismiss CTAs on Paywalls?
- By Ali Abouelatta
- n = 2,679
- Published
- Updated
- 2 min read
- paywall · monetization · mobile · ux-patterns · cancellation
Short answer
Across 2,679 role-labeled paywall CTAs in Lazyweb's corpus, 70.4% are primary, 22.3% secondary, and 7.3% dismisssource[1]. Primary actions dominate the labeled set roughly 3 to 1 over secondary, and explicit dismiss controls are rare at fewer than 200 CTAssource[1]. Design one clear primary action, allow a lightweight secondary, and treat dismiss as an intentional, minority affordance.
Of 2,679 role-labeled paywall CTAs, 70.4% are primary, 22.3% secondary, and 7.3% dismiss (Lazyweb Research, July 2026).
Bar chart · Share of labeled
Share of labeled — The role breakdown
One block is about 2.5%
- Primary
- 70.4%
- Secondary
- 22.3%
- Dismiss
- 7.3%
The role breakdown
Across all 4,406 extracted paywall CTAs (252 companies, 874 canonicals), 2,679 carry a role labelsource[1]. Of the labeled set:
| Role | CTAs | Share of labeled |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | 1,886 | 70.4% |
| Secondary | 597 | 22.3% |
| Dismiss | 196 | 7.3% |
The remaining 1,727 CTAs (39.2% of all 4,406) are unlabeled and excluded from these percentagessource[1].
How to apply it
The labeled mix says paywalls lead hard with a primary action (7 in 10 CTAs)source[1], keep secondary actions like restore or view-all-plans to about 1 in 5, and use explicit dismiss controls sparingly (7.3%)source[1]. If your paywall has multiple competing primary-weight buttons, you are diverging from the norm. Keep one primary CTA visually dominant and demote everything else to secondary or dismiss.
Caveats
Role percentages must use the 2,679 labeled rows, not all 4,406, because 39.2% of CTAs are role='unknown'source[1]. That unlabeled share means dismiss prevalence in particular is a lower bound — some unknown CTAs are surely dismiss controls. Roles are model-assigned during extraction.
Real in-market screens
Screens from real, in-market apps, tracked by Lazyweb Research.
Ask Ai1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Facetune1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Halide1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Lyft1179 × 2556opens the full image
The numbers
| # | Stat | Computed from |
|---|---|---|
| [1] | labeled roles: primary 1,886 (70.4%), secondary 597 (22.3%), dismiss 196 (7.3%) of 2,679 labeled; 1,727 unknown of 4,406 total (39.2%); 252 companies, 874 canonicals | cta_role_mix: cta_role counts from paywall_ctas |
Methodology
Universe: 2,679 role-labeled paywall CTAs (of 4,406 extracted across 252 companies) in the mobile corpus, July 2026. Caveat: 39.2% of CTAs are role='unknown'; dismiss prevalence is a lower bound.
Sources
- [1]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 2,679 role-labeled paywall CTAs (252 companies, ~800 tracked apps), July 2026
Of 4,406 extracted CTAs, 2,679 carry a role label; 1,727 are role='unknown' and excluded from percentages.
Source: Lazyweb Research — proprietary analysis of real, in-market app screens. Cite as Lazyweb Research, 2026-07-07.